Is Fear Keeping You From Finding Freedom?

Freedom.

This word keeps coming to my mind.

There is much talk right now about freedom and our rights being taken away. But what’s coming to my mind is different.

Yes, I believe the decisions being made by our leaders should be questioned and scrutinized.

And… I’m wondering if people consider as much how they keep themselves from experiencing freedom on a daily basis. 

Some people are adamantly speaking, posting, blogging about and standing up for their rights, understandably as they’re being harrowed by leaders stamping on their freedom. They’re also being succumbed by addictions, pharmaceutical traps, anxiety, depression, guilt, indecision, self-sabotage. 

Many people are afraid to try things, holding back, lacking confidence, playing small. Others may be jumping on popular trains rushing by without questioning the destination, following social norms without doing personal research, putting themselves on back-burners and letting flames be hogged.

There is no freedom in any of these behaviors.

I know these are great challenges, issues I work on with clients regularly, some issues I work on regularly.

And my hope is for anyone experiencing any of those issues to see that they also limit freedom. 

We can be so quick to rebuke anyone higher up who tries to control us, as we should do, but can we also stand up to internal blocks that control us in our own daily lives?

How about you?

Are you bound to anything or by anyone that you don’t feel good about? 

Have you fallen into a vicious cycle of medications for medications for medications? 

Do you grapple with demons in your mind or with your emotions? 

Are you holding yourself back from something? 

Do you hide or wilt in despair? 

Are you freight-hopping to stay with the crowd?  

Are you believing anything that doesn’t really align with your true values, stomping out the questions that arise from deep within? 

Are you keeping yourself from experiencing true freedom?

I did for so long. I held back. I kept quiet. I followed trails that weren’t for me, rode trains that jerked me off track, cycled through repeat depressions.

Fear is what I used to let control me the most, and fear fueled anxiety and trickled to depression and all the other negativities I listed way up above—where do you think that list came from? 

What is it for you?

Here’s my ridiculousness: I surf and snorkel with sharks; our family sailed 50 hours through a 50-60 knot wind norther and 30 foot waves; I let my husband hoist me to the top of a 50+ foot mast to work on sailing lines; I get on highways with maniacs; I ingest some essential oils for goodness sake!

And yet I fear judgement more than anything that could actually kill me. So I don’t say what I think, I do the socially acceptable thing, and I wallow in my self-pity, resentment, anxiety and depression all alone.

Well, I used to….but not anymore!

I’m not saying anything you feel is ridiculous! Absolutely not! It’s just a revelation that I have finally reached. It’s how I have finally found freedom.

But I needed to dwell in it as long as I did I guess. I needed to face and triumph over enough physical challenges to finally realize that my whole being is okay, brave and worthy.

I needed to see sharks and feel unthreatened, stand up and control a helm through a vicious storm, calm my mind 50+ feet above water…..and then remember to reflect on those successes, recall the work I did, and give myself credit for accomplishments I took for granted.

I also need to remember that as important as I feel my purpose in life is, as much as I aim to help people, I am not presenting cures for cancer or performing heart surgeries.

So why let fear control me?

Why let anything negative within you control you?

Why protest an outsider but not your own internal trolls?

Fight both. 

Fight for your freedom. Fight for your beliefs AND your life dreams.

1. Start with clearly shaping a vision for what freedom means to you, what you want your life to be like, what you desire to be rid of and full of. What would your life be like if you were truly free?

2. Think about what could produce that vision and what is getting in your way. What’s keeping you full of fear, anxiety, depression, dependence, self-doubt? What external and internal blocks keep you from rising up as you wish?

3. Commit to personal freedom. Instead of quitting something, managing something, getting over something or someone…..think freedom. Turn towards your vision. Stand for it.

These are first steps. Lasting change requires a lot of reflecting, assessing, planning and practicing. But all of that is preempted by realizing you can take control and free yourself.

You can steer your life. You can take control.

You can swim with sharks! 

Freedom doesn’t mean the sharks won’t be there, but you can be aware of them and their affects on you and stay in control. Really.

Whatever you want to do or want to stop doing, you can—you’ve got to if you want to experience true freedom. 

I think you do.

What is holding you back? Get in touch and let me know, or leave a comment below.

How have you found freedom? What fear did you overcome? I’d love to know that, too.

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Why I Started a Blog… and What Are You Holding Back?